This invention relates to a process for producing fluorine-substituted compounds from chlorine-substituted compounds by chlorine-fluorine exchange or by addition of HF to C—C multiple bonds.
Organic and inorganic fluorine compounds are extremely important in chemistry and technology. Inorganic acid fluorides, e.g., sulfuryl fluoride or sulfuryl chlorofluoride, are products for use per se as well as being intermediates. Sulfuryl chloride, for example, has been proposed as a catalyst for synthesis of fluorocarbon compounds. Sulfuryl chlorofluoride is an intermediate for synthesis of sulfuryl fluoride. Sulfuryl fluoride can be added onto unsaturated hydrocarbons, and the resulting sulfonyl fluoride can be used as a catalyst. Carbon compounds and hydrocarbon compounds containing fluorine have a variety of applications, e.g., as propellants for the production of plastics, as refrigerants or as solvents. Carboxylic acids and carboxylic acid derivatives (e.g., carboxylic acid esters or dicarboxylic acid esters) having a carbon-fluorine bond can in turn be used as such or as intermediates in chemical synthesis.
Trifluoroacetic acid esters can be used, for example, as solvents and as intermediates in the production of trifluoroethanol. α-Fluoro-β-dicarbonyl compounds are important intermediates, e.g., in the synthesis of α-fluoroacrylic acid esters, see European patent application no. EP 597,329. European patent application no. EP 597,329 and published German patent application no. DE 199 42 374 disclose the possibility of using HF adducts of amines as catalysts in fluorination reactions or as fluorination agents. European patent application no. EP 1,072,576 discloses HF adducts of fluorination agents and the use of ureas and phosphoric acid amides, optionally cyclic, as fluorination agents. Japanese Patent Application 63/128,086 discloses the hydrofluoride of 1,8-diazobicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene as an ingredient of ink.